A group of Oregon lawmakers announced new federal funding for planning the development of high-speed rail in the Pacific Northwest.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Representatives Rick Larsen (D, WA-02), Derek Kilmer (D, WA-06), Marilyn Strickland (D, WA-10), Adam Smith (D, WA-09), Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01), and Pramila Jayapal (D, WA-07) released a joint statement to announce that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded $49.7 million for planning work for the proposed Cascadia High-Speed Rail project, which would link the Pacific Northwest’s major population centers, including Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Portland, with regular train service running at up to 250 mph.

  • NateNate60@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    1 day ago

    Speaking from the other end of this line, a ticket on the Cascades to Seattle costs just $27 for a 3½-hour journey. A high-speed train travelling at an average speed of 350 km/h could traverse the 280 km between King Street Station and Union Station in just 48 minutes. This is affordable and fast enough that I could even imagine people living in one city commuting to work in the other. It would really benefit the tech sector in both cities.

    • davidgro@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      23 hours ago

      280 km between King Street Station and Union Station

      I don’t understand. Those stations are literally across the street (4th Ave S) from each other, although as far as I know not actually connected to the same rails at any point since Union Station is light rail and King St. is not.

      Edit: I was really tired last night I guess, and confused it with International District Station.

      Apparently Seattle’s Union Station isn’t physically connected to rail at all now, but is the HQ of Sound Transit